Skyrockets smolder
By T.J. ALLICK, Staff Writer tallick@minotdailynews.com
Link: http://minotdailynews.com/sports/articles.asp?articleID=16740
Balanced scoring and pressure defense at key points catapulted the Minot Skyrockets to their second American Conference win.
Minot had six players finish in double figures and they outscored the Pittsburgh Xplosion in three out of four quarters in a 111-90 win Wednesday night at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The win was the fifth straight for Minot, as it improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
The Skyrockets also got 6.5 more quarter points in the win, raising their season total to 31.5 and extending their conference-best average to 5.25.
Along with the balanced scoring, Skyrockets head coach Chris Daleo was pleased with the play of his bench, which combined for 38 points.
“I really got some quality minutes from my secondary unit,” he said. “In games past, I thought my secondary unit was lax at times, but they really played well (Wednesday).”
Minot has jumped out to first quarter leads during the winning streak, only to see them dwindle in the second quarters. But Wednesday night was a different story.
Minot took a 29-21 lead in the first, due in part to three big plays at the end of the quarter by Marshall Phillips off the bench, and went on a big run to take the second quarter and a 60-44 lead into halftime.
Kevin Rice led the first half scoring for Minot with 14 points, but it was the play away from the ball by Phillips, Cory Hightower and Darius Mattear that attributed to Minot playing a better second quarter.
“Aside from the stats and aside from the minutes, I thought those guys really, really played well,” Daleo said. “I thought Hightower and Mattear, in the first half alone, really played some good basketball and Phillips had a solid game as well.”
Phillips and Hightower finished with 15 points each and they combined with Mattear, to contribute 20 of Minot’s 45 rebounds.
Minot extended its lead to 81-60 by the end of the third by holding Pittsburgh to just 16 points. The Skyrockets only letdown came in the final quarter of the game, as they gave up a big Pittsburgh run and had to battle back to earn a tie for the final quarter point. Minot trailed the quarter battle by eight, but it increased its defense pressure to get back on track.
“I thought we did a much better job overall in our defense rotations,” Daleo said. “Things got a sloppy in the fourth, but our defense got us back into it.”
Pittsburgh’s Antonio Graves led all scorers with 34 points and Kevin Mickens added 20 for the Xplosion, who fell to 5-5 in the loss.
John Strickland led the Minot players in double figures with 20, Kevin Rice had 17 and Kellen Miliner added 11.
Ronnie Fields rounded out the Skyrockets in double figures with 19 points and he also had six steals and six rebounds in the win.
Fields is the only remaining player from last year’s squad and he feels that this year’s team has yet to reach its full potential.
“The more games we get in together, the better the team will get overall,” he said. “Right now we are still finding out certain things about one another. We just have to work on the little things and this was good game to do that — playing a team with a little more talent than we’ve faced. (Wednesday) was a good challenge and (Thursday) will be an even bigger challenge.”
Minot plays two games at Pittsburgh starting tonight and concluding Saturday on the road. The Skyrockets will take an early morning flight to make tonight’s game in Pittsburgh, which will present another new challenge.
“It will be a challenge because you’re flying and they get to play at home. If we can get that one, then it will let us know as team where we are at,” Fields said. “But like I said, playing back-to-back games is only going to help us out.”
Following the two games at Pittsburgh, Minot will travel to play the East Kentucky Miners on Monday. The Skyrockets will return home Dec. 13 and 14 when they play host to the Miners for a pair of games.